The USA Network has renewed Miz & Mrs. for a new season.
During The Miz’s appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show today, it was announced that Miz & Mrs. has been renewed for season three. The season, which will consist of 10 episodes, is expected to air on the USA Network in 2022.
“We are overjoyed that we are able to continue giving fans a front row seat into our crazy lives,” The Miz and Maryse said. “Season three is going to be AWESOME!”
Miz & Mrs. premiered in 2018, with the first season of the reality show airing in 2018 and 2019. Season two aired in 2020 and 2021.
“At the end of Season 2, which aired earlier this year, Mike and Maryse celebrated an anniversary, had a pregnancy scare and took a step to ensure they wouldn’t have any more false alarms. While that is usually more than enough for a family to navigate, both their moms decided they were ready to date, Mike helped his dad find a hobby-turned-business and Maryse achieved entrepreneurial success,” the press release announcing the show’s renewal said.
Miz & Mrs. is produced by WWE and Bunim/Murray Productions.
The Miz is currently a contestant on season 30 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Before taking time away from WWE television to be part of Dancing with the Stars, Miz was involved in a storyline where he turned against John Morrison.
Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson went to a 30:00 draw in what was among the best television matches in U.S. history and arguably the best bout ever on Dynamite in their dream match at the company’s debut in New York City on 9/22 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The non-title match presumably sets up a longer time limit championship match down the road. For Full Gear, the decision would seem to be Omega defending against either Danielson or Adam Page.
The show was a landmark event for the promotion, breaking both attendance and gate records and ended up as the second largest non-WWE gate for pro wrestling in U.S. history and the largest attended non-WWE pro wrestling event in the country in 22 years.
The most talked about aspect of the week was the ratings, and whether the show would beat Raw. Dynamite in its history had two episodes that beat Raw’s 0.49 (642,000) in 18-49, the very first episode and the show two weeks earlier coming off All Out and the debuts of Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
WWE Main Event last night featured Mace vs. an enhancement talent and John Morrison vs. Drew Gulak.
The company released an update on the Eva Marie injury storyline that took place on Raw: “Eva Marie was evaluated after Raw and is being treated for a possible dislocation of her elbow following another brutal attack by Shayna Baszler. Stay locked to WWE social and digital platforms for the latest updates.”
Mandy Rose spoke to DAZN about her transition back to NXT and forming Toxic Attraction. She said about her move: “Sometimes switching it up is always good. NXT needed a woman like me. Like I said in my promo last week, they needed a mainstream superstar to be able to help some of the women evolve. I don’t have the most experience in wrestling compared to some of the women and a lot of the women in all of WWE. But when it comes to mainstream qualities, I have a lot of those. So I feel like why not come and help some of these women, whether it’s anything related to WWE, or whether it’s the way they dress, the way they look, the way they present themselves, the way they are perceived, the way they speak in interviews, and the list goes on and on. It’s rebranding my character a little bit. I always think it’s great to evolve. I think change is always good as well. So I wanted to switch things up a little bit. So I’m having a lot of fun in NXT. It’s been a great experience so far.”
Ariane Andrew, formerly Cameron, told Wrestling Inc. that she had recently contacted Vince McMahon about a return to the company. “I am very torn if I want to say this, but I actually reached out recently and was like, ‘I would love to come back,’ and, will I be back?,” she said. “That’s to be determined, but I actually reached out to Vince [McMahon] himself and was like, you know what, I’m going to go to the person who’s at the top,” Andrew revealed. “I miss being in that world of wrestling. I saw Naomi three months ago, and I was like, you know what, if I have nothing, if I never got the championship, I feel like having the tag team titles would be awesome.”
The company has trademarked the name “Tiffany Stratton”.
A documentary on the life of Brodie Lee premieres tonight at the Movies 10 theatre in Rochester. The synopsis for the movie reads: “Documentary movie on the life of Jon Huber, known worldwide as Brodie Lee/Luke Harper. Tells the story of his life in wrestling, from a backyard to the Western NY indy scene, to the big time in WWE and AEW – from the fellow wrestlers who shared the road with Brodie.”
Jacob Fatu talked to Wrestling Inc. ahead of his title vs. title match at MLW Fightland this Saturday against MLW National Openweight Champion Alexander Hammerstone.
Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson went to a 30:00 draw in what was among the best television matches in U.S. history and arguably the best bout ever on Dynamite in their dream match at the company’s debut in New York City on 9/22 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The non-title match presumably sets up a longer time limit championship match down the road. For Full Gear, the decision would seem to be Omega defending against either Danielson or Adam Page.
The show was a landmark event for the promotion, breaking both attendance and gate records and ended up as the second largest non-WWE gate for pro wrestling in U.S. history and the largest attended non-WWE pro wrestling event in the country in 22 years.
The most talked about aspect of the week was the ratings, and whether the show would beat Raw. Dynamite in its history had two episodes that beat Raw’s 0.49 (642,000) in 18-49, the very first episode and the show two weeks earlier coming off All Out and the debuts of Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Extreme Rules more UFC coverage, and the fallout of a major week with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight. You can send questions to tonight’s show to [email protected]
WWE Extreme Rules is today from Columbus, OH (odds from BetOnline.ag):
Roman Reigns vs. Demon Finn Balor. It’s really up to these two to have a great match, and I expect they will due to the nature of this being such a shallow card. It’s Extreme Rules so probably lots of street fight stuff and maybe outside interference. Reigns is a -1000 favorite so nobody believes he’s losing here, which means they have to give you a great match to overcome that.
Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair for the Smackdown women’s title. Lynch is a -400 favorite to retain in what looks to be the second biggest match of the show. Their house show matches have gotten strong reviews so this is likely to be a great match as well.
Charlotte Flair vs . Alexa Bliss for the Raw women’s title. Flair is a -200 favorite to retain. I could see this one going either way. The house show matches between the two have been reported as better than you would think.
Damien Priest vs. Sheamus vs. Jeff Hardy for the U.S. title. Priest is -275 to retain while Sheamus is +230 and Hardy is +500. This seems like the wrong time to beat Priest and maybe Hardy is there to lose the fall for Sheamus (or protect Sheamus). Hardy does add a dimension and this should be a good match.
Usos vs. Street Profits for the Smackdown tag titles. The storyline should be Montez Ford coming in injured from the post-match attack on Smackdown. The Usos are -250 to retain. Match should be good. Usos matches are always good.
Liv Morgan vs. Carmella. Morgan is a -400 favorite to beat Carmella one more time.
Looking at the lineup, most looks good but the last two matches seemingly have to deliver in a big way since really they are the only ones that feel like major PPV matches and the rest just seem like good, or perhaps average matches rounding out the show. With only six bouts announced the top two matches should get a lot of time as well.
UFC 266 was the single most searched for topic on the Internet last night with 2.1 million searches. That would, based on usual search trends, indicate a PPV of more than 500,000 buys, which is greatly above what was expected by most. The big increase is likely the Nick Diaz factor, very much like how C.M. Punk with a similar amount of time off drew so big when he returned. Other stuff for this weekend saw Anthony Joshua No. 4 yesterday with 500,000 and Robbie Lawler and No. 11 with 100,000. For Friday, Jon Jones was No. 6 with 200,000 from his arrest. From Wednesday, Conor McGregor was No 19 with 50,000 for him throwing out the first pitch at the baseball game. For Monday, Dancing with the Stars was No. 2 with 500,000, and while Miz was not the reason, he was part of the show.mNotable that AEW didn’t break through on Wednesday, but episodes of Dynamite never do. AEW and WWE almost never do for a weekly television show. WWE always does for PPV shows and AEW does for some of ts PPV shows.
Thanks to Dominic Kenny, Steve Wright and Steve Amodio for weekend house show reports from New Japan and WWE. We’re looking for reports from tonight’s NJPW show in Garland,TX as well as tonight’s PWG show in Los Angeles with Bandido vs. Davey Richards for the PWG title and a show that on paper looks fantastic, with Black Taurus & Demonic Flamita vs. Malakai Black & Brody King, Jonathan Gresham vs. Alex Shelley, Jack Cartwheel & Dante Martin & Alex Zayne vs. Lee Moriarty & Trey Miguel & Myron Reed, JD Drake vs. AJ Gray, Aramis & Rey Horus vs. Dragon Lee & Laredo Kid and Tony Deppen vs. Evil Uno. Plus we’re got polls for this weekend’s WWE Extreme Rules and UFC 266 show, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, plus a best and worst match from each show to [email protected]
The planned Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan bantamweight title match scheduled for the 10/30 show in Abu Dhabi is off due to Sterling not being recovered from neck surgery. It looks like Yan will face someone, with Cory Sandhagen being the leading candidate, to create an interim title.
Stardom sold out Ota Ward Gym yesterday, which New Japan didn’t do for either G-1 show, for the Five Star Grand Prix finals where Syuri beat Momo Watanabe. This leads to a major show on 12/29 at Tokyo Sumo Hall with Utami Hayashishita vs Syuri in a rematch of their two big matches this year for Stardom Dream Queendom. It’s too bad going to Japan is so difficult because with this and Rizin New Year’s Eve and three nights of Wrestle Kingdom plus all the regular shows, it would be a great period to go.
Results from yesterday’s Stardom PPV show show: Hana won three-way over Rina and Momo Watanabe, Mai Sakura b Waka Tsukiyama, Mina Shirakawa b Natsupoi-COR, Fugiken Death b Saki Kashima, Koguma b Himeka, Mayu Iwatani b Starlight Kid, AZM b Ruaka, Unagi Sayaka b Saya Kamitani, Maika b Konami, Syuri d Takumi Iroha 20:00, Tam Nakano b Utami Hayashishita in the battle of champions. This left Syuri as blue block winner and Watanabe as red block winner and Syuri won and challenged Hayashishita for 12/29. However, Takumi Iroha will first face Hayashishita for the World of Stardom title on 10/9 in Osaka Jo Hall and the winner faces Syuri at Sumo Hall. Tam Nakano then challenged Mayu Iwatani to face her for her Wonder of Stardom in Osaka while Syuri said she would face Konami in Osaka. People have raved about the last three bouts and the show as a whole.
NOAH’s N-1 tournament will finish on 10/3 at Korakuen Hall with semifinals of Kenou vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Masakatsu Funaki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima.
WWE
Miz is on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune tonight on ABC at 8 p.m. Eastern with Cheryl Burke and Jason Alexander.
In Hershey at the house show last night, Big E pinned Bobby Lashley in a singles match for the title. Lynch vs. Belair ended up with Flair interfering and turning into a tag match with the challengers team of Bliss & Belair beating champions of Flair & Lynch when Bliss pinned Flair.
Was told the new Broken Skull Sessions with Seth Rollins is very good, notably talking about what got him almost fired in NXT and choosing WWE over TNA.
UFC
The feud between Dana White and Oscar de la Hoya continues. De La Hoya congratulated Alexander Volkanovski saying you won a brutal battle for UFC and made 1/20 of what you’re worth and called on White to pay fighters what they deserve. White then called De La Hoya a crackhead who faked COVID to avoid getting knocked out by Vitor Belfort and that De La Hoya should win an Academy Award for his hospital performance.
St. Louis Anarchy from last night in Granite City, IL: 12 Gaige & Damien Deschain b Connor Hopkins & Brooks Berna, Nick King won four-way over Jay Manston, Victor Analog and Sean Orleans, Kenny Alfonso b Craig Mitchell, Camaro Jackson & Campbell Myers b Evan Gelistico & Billie Starkz, Derek Neal b Thomas Shire, Aaron Williams b Davey Vega, Gary Jay b Rickey Shane Page, Jake Dirden & Moonshine Mantell & Angelus Layne b Christian Rose & Gnaris Garvin & BSTRO Cassidy, Mat Fitchett b Warhorse, Calvin Tankman b Kevin Lee Davidson, Davey Richards b Everett Connors, Jeremy Wyatt b Daniel Makabe in a pure rules match (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
Free the Narrative promoted by EC 3, who headlines against Adam Scherr (formerly Braun Strowman) will be on FITE TV on 10/2. Also on the show are Matt Taven, Westin Blake (Wesley Blake in WWE), William (Dutch in ROH), Parrow, John Skyler, and Tanga Loa.
There were a few wrestling references on football games we’ve heard. During the Oklahoma vs. West Virginia game, the announcer used the Roddy Piper quote about “Just when you think you have all the answers, they change the questions” followed by the other announcer saying there are no Junkyard Dogs on the field. There was a reference to wrestling and Edouard Carpentier, the Flying Frenchman, and Blackjack Lanza, so that sounds like a 1969ish AWA fan. (thanks to Barry Werner)
Big E cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on the 9/13 Raw to win the WWE championship from Bobby Lashley, signifying his switching brands and reuniting The New Day.
Born Ettore Ewen, the 35-year-old Tampa product was a state heavyweight champion wrestler at Wharton High School and football player, who went to the University of Iowa, and after college, became a powerlifter.
A mutual friend contacted Jim Ross, and he was given a WWE tryout in 2009 and WWE signed him to a deal at that time. He started as Big E Langston in Florida Championship Wrestling, which was shortened to Big E. He was popular due to his personality and those in developmental thought he could be a groundbreaking performer with his leaping ability and agility and power combination.
In 2012, he was brought up to the main roster, and on November 18, 2013, won the IC title from Curtis Axel. But his career took off in 2014 as part of the New Day tag team. The idea started out silly but ended up being tweaked by the three guys in it and the group held the Raw tag team titles twice and Smackdown version of the titles six times.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio covering Raw, previewing the rest of the week and covering the rest of the news. You can also send questions to the show to [email protected]
Due to a case of COVID at our printers, it was shut down for several days so this past week’s Observer mailing has been delayed. We’ll update when we get more info.
WWE has most of the Smackdown crew, except for Roman Reigns, The Usos and Big E, in Europe. We’re looking for reports on the shows today in London at the O2 ARena tomorrow in Cardiff, Wales at the Motorpoint Arena and Wednesday in Glasgow, Scotland at the SSE Hydro to [email protected] We’re also doing our G-1 polls for the first two nights from Osaka looking for a thumbs up, down or middle and best and worst matches from each show also to [email protected] Tonight’s London show is expected to be the largest WWE crowd so far this year except for WrestleMania and SummerSlam.
Raw tonight goes against the Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions game. The big counter is Roman Reigns being on the show, teaming with the Usos against The New Day with Big E. Also scheduled is the Big E title win celebration, Natalya & Tamina defending the women’s tag titles against Nikki ASH & Rhea Ripley, Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler, Sheamus vs. Jeff Hardy and if Hardy wins, he gets added to the U.S. title match at Extreme Rules, and a Playground segment with Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair.
AEW’s show on Wednesday will be the largest crowd for a non-WWE pro wrestling event in North America since the January 4, 1999, WCW show at the Georgia Dome. Currently they are at 18,675 tickets out of 19,428. I’d have thought the announcement of Danielson vs Omega would have instantly sold the rest of the tickets but that wasn’t the case.
This is probably the most important television week as far as both WWE and AEW is concerned since October 1999.
The Miz debuts tonight on the new season of Dancing with the Stars on ABC at 8 p.m.
There have been questions about whether having a thick beard helps in dissipating the power of punches in fighting spots.This study says it does. Here’s part of the end discussion:
“Our results show that on average the furred samples absorbed nearly 30% more energy than the sheared and plucked samples. Furred samples experienced lower peak impact forces and were loaded more slowly. These factors contributed to a reduced rate of furred sample failure as compared to sheared and plucked samples. Thus, the results of this study indicate that hair is indeed capable of significantly reducing the force of impact from a blunt strike and absorbing energy, thereby reducing the incidence of failure. If the same is true for human facial hair, then having a full beard may help protect vulnerable regions of the facial skeleton from damaging strikes, such as the jaw. Presumably, full beards also reduce injury, laceration, and contusion, to the skin and muscle of the face. Although not tested in this study, it is also likely that the hair of beards helps deflect an oblique blow by reducing friction between the face and the object striking it.” (thanks to Brendan Faherty)
It was a great move by AEW to open up a relationship with the Owen Hart Foundation and Martha Hart, which will include an annual Owen Hart Cup tournament. Some months back we had talked with Tony Khan about the idea of an annual title contenders tournament and he said he was working on an idea, which evidently this was it. We don’t know that this is a title contenders tournament just to make that clear.
Scout Comics has removed all references to Ric Flair from the New York ComicCon next month. They had announced Flair coming for a new comic book launch.
Kushida vs. Roderick Strong for the cruiserweight title takes place on NXT tomorrow night.
Impact Bound for Glory tickets go on sale Friday from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas.
In the Cincinnati market for Raw next week they are advertising Big E & Riddle & Randy Orton vs. A.J. Styles & Omos & Bobby Lashley for a dark match main event.
AEW
Max Caster challenged Tony Khan to a rap battle on Wednesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
UFC
Dan Hooker told Submission Radio that the UFC wasn’t able to get him a visa to come in for Saturday’s show that he got his visa because UFC fans on Twitter bombarded the New Zealand/US consulate. He said he’s got no issues with cutting after after 20 hours of travel at the last minute saying he’ll have 12 hours after getting into Las Vegas and he’s not even worried about it.
OTHER NOTES
Triller promoter Ryan Kavanaugh told ESPN that they are looking at moving the 10/4 show at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden with Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos to 10/16 at the Barclays Center. The show has already had four date changes.
Shine from yesterday in Clearwater, FL: Amber Nova b Kaci Lennox, Myka Madrid b Kelsey Heather, Tracy Nyxx b Alya Sky, WOAD b Natalia Markova in a street fight,ACR b Katalina Perez, Erica Torres & Chelsea Durden b Kelsey Raegan & shara Seven, Marti Belle b Stormie Lee, Ivelisse Velez b Allysin Kay to keep the Shine title in a cage match. Ivelisse did a tribute to Shannon Spruill after the match. Santana Garrett and Amber Nova both challenged WOAD for the Nova championship.
Battleground Wrestling sold out the 2300 Arena on Saturday night: Buddy Matthews (Murphy) b KC Navarro, Little Guido b Alec Odin with Raven, Bully Ray & Dave LaGreca inducted the Road Warriors & Paul Ellering into the Arena Hall of Fame (Ellering was there to accept), Enzo b Ricky Morton, Austin & Colten Gunn b Bear Country, Wrecking Ball Legurski b Stephen Gibki, Bobby Fish b Ray Jaz, Katie Forbes b MK Twins, Bully Ray & Rob Van Dam managed by Bill Alfonso b Matt Hardy & Marc Quen. Sandman did the beer celebration after the match. Next show is 12/18 with Rhino, PCO, Tony Nese and Laredo Kid. Psycho Clown and Kevin Sullivan will be coming soon.
GOUGE from yesterday in Raleigh,NC: Waylon Maze b Caribbean Tiger, Snooty Fox b Chet Sterling, Air Time Rockers b Cowboy Kool Jay and Zane Riley, Kaitlyn Marie Eve Levine, Seymour Snott b T.I.M. to win Gouge title. Next show is 10/9 in Raleigh with Snott vs Caribbean Tiger.
AAW on 10/1 in Merrionette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street has Allysin Kay vs. Christi Jaynes vs. Skye Blue for the women’s title, Joeasa & Robin Steele vs Mance Warner & Manders in a double dog collar match, Davey Vega vs. Jigsaw and Gringo Loco & Arez vs. Laredo Kid & Aramis.
WWE’s The Miz is officially part of the cast for season 30 of “Dancing with the Stars.”
The Miz was confirmed for the show as the cast was revealed on “Good Morning America” this morning. PWInsider first reported last week that Miz had been cast on the celebrity ballroom dancing competition series.
“I’m learning the Paso Doble, Argentine Tango, Waltz, and FoxTrot are very different moves than a Skull Crushing Finale or Figure Four Leg Lock,” Miz tweeted. “Honored and excited to be apart of the Season 30 cast of @DancingABC now let’s get to work. #DWTS.”
Miz turned against John Morrison on the August 23 episode of Raw. They were supposed to face each other on Raw the following week, but the match didn’t happen.
Season 30 of “Dancing with the Stars” will premiere on ABC at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, September 20. Here’s the full celebrity cast for the show:
Country singer Jimmie Allen
Spice Girl Melanie C
Christine Chiu (“Bling Empire”)
Brian Austin Green (“Beverly Hills, 90210”)
Melora Hardin (“The Office”)
Social media star Olivia Jade
Matt James (“The Bachelor”)
Amanda Kloots (“The Talk”)
Martin Kove (“Cobra Kai”)
Gold medal Olympian Suni Lee
WWE Superstar Mike “The Miz” Mizanin
Kenya Moore (“The Real Housewives of Atlanta”)
Peloton star instructor Cody Rigsby
NBA star Iman Shumpert
Pop star JoJo Siwa
Nikki Bella, Chris Jericho, and Stacy Keibler were contestants on previous seasons of “Dancing with the Stars.”
WWE’s The Miz will reportedly be part of the cast for the next season of “Dancing with the Stars.”
PWInsider reported on Friday that The Miz has been cast on season 30 of “Dancing with the Stars.” The season will premiere on ABC on Monday, September 20.
The Miz was scheduled to face John Morrison on Raw this past Monday, but the match didn’t happen. Morrison instead lost a match against Omos on the show. The match between former tag team partners Miz and Morrison had been set up when Miz turned against Morrison the previous week.
PWInsider wrote that Miz being on “Dancing with the Stars” looks to be the reason that he wasn’t on this week’s Raw.
Olympian Suni Lee and pop star JoJo Siwa have been confirmed for season 30 of “Dancing with the Stars.” The full cast will be revealed on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, September 8.
“Dancing with the Stars” is described as “the hit series in which celebrities perform choreographed dance routines that are judged by a panel of renowned ballroom experts.” Nikki Bella, Chris Jericho, and Stacy Keibler have been contestants on previous seasons of the show.
The Miz and John Morrison’s partnership came to an end on last night’s post-SummerSlam episode of Raw.
Tensions between Miz and Morrison led to Miz turning against Morrison on Raw last night. After a Moist TV segment with Logan Paul appearing as Morrison’s guest, Miz faced Xavier Woods in a singles match. A failed distraction by Morrison caused the referee to miss Miz pinning Woods. Woods then used a small package to get the win.
Morrison apologized to Miz after the match. They started to spray their Drip Sticks into the crowd, but Miz then attacked Morrison. He beat Morrison down before dropping him with a Skull Crushing Finale.
Morrison and Miz will face off on next Monday’s episode of Raw. Morrison cut a promo later in last night’s show saying that he wants to end Miz next week.
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley opened last night’s show until being confronted by Damian Priest. Drew McIntyre saving Priest from Lashley and Sheamus led to a tag team match taking place.
New Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair also made an appearance last night before being interrupted by Alexa Bliss and Lilly.
Riddle faced off with AJ Styles in last night’s main event. Plus, Karrion Kross debuted an updated look.
The Miz is set to make his first appearance on WWE television since suffering an ACL injury at WrestleMania Backlash.
During SmackDown tonight, a commercial aired announcing that The Miz will host a Miz TV segment on Monday’s episode of Raw. Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair will appear as Miz and John Morrison’s guests.
Ripley is defending her Raw Women’s Championship against Charlotte at WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on Sunday, June 20.
The Miz lost to Damian Priest in a lumberjack match at WrestleMania Backlash earlier this month. As part of a promotional tie-in with Netflix’s “Army of the Dead” movie, the match featured zombie lumberjacks. After the match, there was an angle where the zombies filled the ring and were apparently eating Miz.
Dave Meltzer reported that Miz suffered a torn ACL during the lumberjack match when Priest landed on Miz’s legs after a spinning kick off the top rope. Meltzer noted at the time that the severity of the tear wasn’t known, but there was hope that it was a partial tear instead of a full one.
Monday’s Raw will also feature Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston and Shayna Baszler vs. Reginald. The winner of McIntyre vs. Kingston will challenge for Bobby Lashley’s WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell. McIntyre and Kingston’s match on Monday has a stipulation where — if Lashley or MVP interfere or even come out to ringside during the match — Lashley will be suspended without pay for 90 days.
Dave Meltzer covers the state of emergency in Japan, the actual stats, shows canceled, when NJPW is set to return.
Lots more on the life of Brian Pillman, what Dark Side didn’t cover, his football career, contract disputes, booking idea if he stayed with WCW, children and legacy.
Also in this issue:
Match and wrestler of the week
AEW & WWE back on the road and details
A look at the next two major pro wrestling PPV shows
UFC coverage of Saturday’s show, next week’s show, new fights, new financial info
Most detailed look at ratings, what shows do people watch longest, what shows do they watch live or most on DVR, Segment breakdowns and and exclusive info on how the different shows are consumed
U.S. Olympic wrestling preview
The amazing historical story of a fugitive in a foreign country who held the biggest tag team title in the world, and his shocking death
Notes on AEW television schedule for the next six weeks
2016 Gold medalist talks WWE
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
WWE’s website has an article on Don Kernodle, who passed away yesterday at the age of 71.
PWInsider noted that on the recent episode of WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures, footage from WWC in Puerto Rico aired, marking the first time that footage has aired on broadcast TV. Footage featuring Kane in WWC also aired during his episode of Broken Skull Sessions.
WWE’s social media team won a People’s Voice Webby award. The Rock won a Special Achievement award “for his phenomenal use of social media to connect with people, to provide inspiration and motivation to millions of followers globally, and to serve fans with new and exclusive content from his wide range of ongoing film-and-TV projects.”
The Miz spoke to The New York Post on working with Bad Bunny at WrestleMania. “Not only was I happy about that match, I was ecstatic about the match,” he said. “Not only was I ecstatic, but the reason was also when I looked at Twitter before the match, people were crapping all over it, saying, ‘We don’t want this match, this match shouldn’t even be happening.’ After the match, people were saying it was the match of the night. People are talking about it to this day and it happened a month ago.
Lanny Poffo commented on the Randy Savage documentary that aired on A&E recently. “I want to say that 75% of the A&E Biography episode on Randy was great, 20% of it was lousy, and 5% was just horrible,” he wrote. “The people responsible for the 5% are Stephanie Bellars (Gorgeous George, Frankenstein, whatever) and Bubba the Love Sponge. These are two people that speak with authority with absolutely no validity. Bubba, for instance, speculated on who Randy loved all his life, yet he wasn’t even on Randy’s Christmas list, so how was he going to know that?”
Dragongate announced that Ben-K has tested positive for COVID-19. Naruki Doi, who wrestled Ben-K on May 14, has not tested positive. Both have been removed from the King of Gate 2021 tournament and have forfeited their remaining matches.
Meltzer said the severity of the tear is still unknown at this time with a full tear likely keeping the 40-year-old out for up to nine months.
He got the injury in his lumberjack match with Damien Priest Sunday as Priest landed on Miz’s legs after a spinning kick off the top rope. Miz was still able to work the remainder of the match, but was selling his knee repeatedly. He eventually lost to Priest and was then “eaten” by actors playing zombies as a cross-promotion for a Netflix movie.
On Monday’s Raw, Miz’s partner John Morrison dedicated his match to Miz’s memory and subsequently lost to Priest in another lumberjack match.
Conversely, Meltzer said he is unsure if Braun Strowman’s rib injury suffered in the three-way WWE title match involving Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre Sunday is a storyline injury or not. Strowman was not on Monday’s Raw as Lashley’s manager MVP played it up as if Strowman was too injured to appear.
In what ended up being a bizarre match featuring zombie lumberjacks, Damian Priest defeated The Miz at WrestleMania Backlash.
Prior to the match, John Morrison attempted to curry favor with the lumberjacks by entering their locker room, but quickly found out that they were zombies. After Miz and Priest entered the ring, the zombies arrived. Throughout the match, the zombies would go after both Priest and Miz. The finish of the match had Morrison stand on the guardrail in an attempt to take out the zombies, but was dragged down by zombies hidden in the barricade. Priest then grabbed a distracted Miz and hit the lights out for the win.
After the match, the zombie horde piled on the fallen Miz, with the assumption being that they were consuming him.
The zombies were part of a promotional tie-in for the upcoming movie Army of The Dead, which stars Batista. It was released in theatres on May 14 and will stream on Netflix starting May 21. Batista tweeted prior to tonight’s show that he was sending some of his friends to tonight’s pay-per-view.
A lumberjack match is the latest addition to the card for WrestleMania Backlash.
WWE has announced that Damian Priest will face The Miz in a lumberjack match at WrestleMania Backlash this Sunday (May 16). In storyline, the stipulation was chosen by Priest after he defeated John Morrison on Raw tonight.
The winner of Priest vs. Morrison on tonight’s Raw got to choose the stipulation for Priest and Miz’s match at WrestleMania Backlash. This was the second straight week that Priest has defeated Morrison after a distraction by Miz backfired.
Miz attacked Priest after tonight’s match, but Priest fought out of the Skull Crushing Finale. Miz then bailed when Priest went to hit a big boot. With Miz on the stage, Priest laid out Morrison in the ring with Hit the Lights.
There was a segment earlier on tonight’s Raw where Miz was initially going to say no to the idea of the winner of Priest vs. Morrison getting to choose the stipulation for Priest and Miz’s match at WrestleMania Backlash, but Morrison accepted on Miz’s behalf.
Priest teamed with Bad Bunny to defeat Miz & Morrison at WrestleMania 37 last month. Miz & Morrison won a handicap match against Priest on the Raw after WrestleMania, but Priest has defeated Miz once and Morrison twice in singles matches since then. Priest & The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) also defeated Miz, Elias & Jaxson Ryker in a six-man tag match on Raw two weeks ago.
WrestleMania Backlash will air live on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else this Sunday. Here’s the updated card for the pay-per-view:
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Cesaro
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley defends against Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair defends against Bayley
Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defends against Asuka and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode defend against Rey & Dominik Mysterio
A preview to WrestleMania leads off the current issue of the Wrestling Observer. We look at each match, thoughts on the match, who are the gambling oddsmaker favorites, chart ticket demand with Mania and the next two UFC PPV shows, rules in play, and non-WrestleMania ticket demand.
Also in this issue:
End of the Wednesday night war with the final standings, cover the two Takeover shows, look at television vs. streaming viewership, Canadian numbers, final stands in shows and quarters, and where AEW and NXT go from here.
Takeover with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and other notes from the shows.
Vince McMahon’s decision to put the Chris Jericho interview on Peacock right after the second day of WrestleMania, why the timing works, how Tony Khan reacted, the good, the bad, the political, a preview of something talked about and how this does show a change in WWE policy.
The death of Jack Veneno, a look at his four world title matches with Ric Flair, Dominican wrestling, the story about the world title change that wasn’t approved by the NWA board, as well as the movies on his life and career that have been produced. We look at the level of fame he had in the Dominican Republic and outside the Dominican Republic.
A feature on the direction of AEW, where the viewership declines are and aren’t, reasons, and changes in AEW television over the past year as well as a look at different stars and how much time they are getting.
Nick Khan talking the return of two of WWE’s best known women stars, A.J. Styles’ idea for this year’s Mania that didn’t happen, Roman Reigns talks a match with The Rock, looking at the popularity of all the major promotions and who is gaining and falling, WWE gets rid of longtime announcing team, The Hurt Business breakup, Paul Levesque talks Undertaker’s comments on the modern generation, how pro wrestling did compared to televised sports this past week, Seth Rollins talks fans at TV, A&E wrestling schedule, and WWE market value.
Will Ospreay’s win of the IWGP title, the history of U.K. wrestlers challenging for New Japan’s world title, business updates including bad news for New Japan going into two stadium shows, why the title changed, other angles, all the upcoming streaming shows and major shows over the next month and some good business news as well.
Sakura Genesis, with match-by-match coverage and star ratings.
WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies, go through the candidates, note speeches, the major gaffe in one of the inductions and a look back at a pioneer wrestling family that is never talked about.
U.S. Olympic wrestling trials, the major confrontations, the stars of the team, plus stars of the future to watch out for.
Stardom PPV show.
More into detail on ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
A match between Mercedes Martinez and Jessi Kamea has been added to tonight’s episode of NXT.
It was announced Monday afternoon that a new podcast featuring Jeff Jarrett called “My World with Jeff Jarrett” will launch on May 4. Conrad Thompson will host the show and will be available on adfreeshows.com.
WWE.com posted an article on Matt and Jeff Hardy’s father, Gilbert, passing away on April 6.
The website also posted an article on Kelly Kelly (Barbara Blank) marrying Joe Coba this past weekend.
Belair also spoke to TMZ Sports on winning the title. “It’s so important,” she told them. “I always say representation is not a request. Representation is a requirement and WWE is a perfect example of how people should follow by propelling women and representing women and treating women in sports and in the world. It’s an amazing moment to stand in the ring with Sasha Banks — it was the first time two African-American women have had a title match at ‘WrestleMania’ and [it was the] main event.”
The Advertiser has an article on Rhea Ripley winning the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania.
Rhea commented on her title win in an interview with TVInsider, bringing up one congratulatory message after winning the title: “One of the big ones was talking to Vince McMahon afterward, hearing him say “well done” and that I did great. It was so surreal. It’s a dream, and I’m living it. To have the big bossman say well done was pretty insane to me.”
SVG has an article on WWE welcoming fans back at WrestleMania. “The fans’ being there had a huge impact on everyone — from the talent to everybody in the truck,” SVP of event technical operations Duncan Leslie told SVG. “It was so gratifying to see how excited our fans were, because we do everything we can to give them the best show on earth.”
In an interview with TMZ Sports, The Miz praised Bad Bunny’s performance at WrestleMania. “Not only did he earn my respect, I think he earned the WWE Universe’s respect,” he said. “I think he earned backstage’s respect. I think he earned everybody’s respect in what some are calling ‘The Best Celebrity Match at WrestleMania in History!'”
The company has trademarked the term “Then Now Forever Together”, a new phrase seen in their new signature opening.
Other Wrestling
CM Punk didn’t dismiss the idea of returning to wrestling in an interview with Uproxx, but also said that it wasn’t his world anymore. “I think the right combination could maybe be figured out, but it’s also not for me to figure out,” he said. “It’s not my world anymore. I’m certainly not Hulk Hogan, where I’m going to show up somewhere and like, ‘no, this is how it’s going to be.’ The wrestling world doesn’t necessarily need CM Punk and that’s absolutely fine. Everyone seems to be doing great. I don’t know, it’s like flavors of ice cream. I walk into an ice cream shop one time and I’m like, ‘Oh, that seems like a good flavor. Give me two scoops of that.’ It’s just gotta be the right time, right place, right situation.”
NWA PowerrrSurge, a new show that will air on FiteTV starting tonight, will feature Mike Parrow and a spotlight match with Jerimiah Plunkett vs. Mims. This will be part of the NWA subscription package on Fite TV.
WWE has announced a change to one of the matches for WrestleMania 37.
At WrestleMania 37 night one this Saturday, it will now be Bad Bunny & Damian Priest teaming together against The Miz & John Morrison. The bout had originally been announced as a singles match between Bad Bunny and Miz.
The change to the match was made official when Miz & Morrison accepted a challenge from Bad Bunny & Priest on Raw tonight. In an angle earlier on the show, Miz and Morrison defaced Bad Bunny’s $3.6 million Bugatti by painting on it. When Bad Bunny came to see what Miz and Morrison had done to his car, Miz and Morrison attacked him from behind.
Bad Bunny will be making his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 37. The music superstar first appeared for WWE when he performed his song “Booker T” at the Royal Rumble this January. Bad Bunny & Priest have been feuding with Miz & Morrison since then.
WrestleMania 37 is taking place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida this Saturday and Sunday. Both nights will air live on Peacock in the United States and live on the WWE Network everywhere else.
Here are the updated cards for both nights of WrestleMania 37:
WrestleMania 37 night one (Saturday, April 10) —
SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks defends against Bianca Belair
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley defends against Drew McIntyre
Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. The Miz & John Morrison
Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) defend against AJ Styles & Omos
Steel cage match: Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon
Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro
Tag Team Turmoil match for a WWE Women’s Tag Team title shot at WrestleMania 37 night two
WrestleMania 37 night two (Sunday, April 11) —
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Edge and Daniel Bryan in a triple threat match
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka defends against Rhea Ripley
“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
Intercontinental Champion Big E defends against Apollo Crews in a Nigerian Drum Fight
United States Champion Riddle defends against Sheamus
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defend against the winners of the Tag Team Turmoil match from night one
Bad Bunny vs. The Miz has been made official for WrestleMania 37.
On tonight’s episode of Raw, The Miz formally issued a challenge to Bad Bunny for a match at WrestleMania during an episode of Miz TV. After defeating Jeff Hardy later in the show, The Miz was laid out by Bad Bunny after he smashed a guitar into Miz’s back, payback for Miz attacking Bad Bunny in the same fashion last week. Bad Bunny then accepted Miz’s challenge for WrestleMania.
It was later announced that a new Dirt Sheet would take place next week on Raw, where The Miz and John Morrison will premiere their new music video “Hey Hey Hop Hop”, in honor of Bad Bunny.
Bad Bunny has been feuding with both The Miz and John Morrison since appearing at the Royal Rumble in January, laying both out with a dive during the men’s Royal Rumble match. He has been allied with Damien Priest, who debuted for the Raw brand following the Royal Rumble. Priest helped Bad Bunny win the 24/7 Championship. However, Bad Bunny later gave the title to R-Truth.
WrestleMania is scheduled to take place on two nights, April 10 and 11.
